Ray comes home for 2 days to look after his mother before going back to his new town to take up an internship in his summer break from MIT. However his father informs him that he will need to stay much longer than that to care for her as she has broken her leg. While in the house Ray becomes increasingly frustrated and fins himself drawn into lust for his mother with devastating results.

This independent film is refreshingly straightforward but has enough quirk in it to have an edge of humour. The drama is sort of Shakespearean as Ray finds his life controlled by his mother who he becomes filled with desire for after rubbing her legs, showering her etc. This quickly finds him in a situation where, unable to masturbate due to the family dog following him everywhere and unable to have sex with a young girl because he is too rough he is increasingly drawn to mum!

This is not a comedy but a tragedy that deals with a very taboo subject. It deals with it gradually and in such a way that you can understand why it happens. Even when it happens there is no judgement – Ray is more sensitive after that and his mother seems nonplussed altogether. The fact that people hated it because they were expecting a teen comedy shows not a weakness in the film but a fault from the audience.

That's not to say this is a classic – it has flaws, some characters and scenes appear to have no meaning and the ending wasn't as concrete as I'd hoped for. But it still handles the central theme well and is a good tale of a young man who slowly loses a lot due to lust. The performances are all good – expect Gallo who is a little directionless in her character.

Overall THIS IS NOT A TEEN COMEDY! But it is a good drama on a taboo subject. It may be a little light on basic plot but the underlying themes will give you plenty to consider after you watch it.

Given the budget limitations ($80,000), "Spanking the Monkey" manages to hold interest albeit with some poorly chosen scenes.

The core of the movie is the relationship between mother and son. The rest of the cast exists to point the way to the inevitable.

The philandering, materialistic, self absorbed husband/father illuminates the barren marriage.

The fumbling sexual attempts of the son with the girl next door and her contradictory accusations of his sexual attempts as either too rough or not rough enough (gay), understandably confuse the son and provide the mother with a mentoring, nurturing sexual role for her son about how to sexually succeed with women.

The mother, stumbling upon a bedroom sexual session between the son and the girl next door, reacts more in jealousy than in any maternally disproving fashion.

The mother's flirtatious ways with the male neighbors, doctors, and ultimately with the girl next door's father point out that while she may be her son's mother, she is still a very desirable woman in the eyes of the rest of the male world.

From the beginning through the end, you never believe the son and mother ever had a mother/child bonding. Both of them are intellectually superior, highly educated. The mother was young when she gave birth and she thinks of herself as her son's educational, intellectual and ultimately sexual mentor, not his mother.

The teenage son's inability to "spank his monkey" combined with the boredom, liquor and medications downed by his mother provide the explosive elements that are just waiting to be lit. The mother's seductive smile and a slight hiking of her nightgown set off the explosion.

This movie is nowhere near perfect, but it's compelling enough to let you sit through the unnecessary (e.g. stoner friends) and that's a lot more than you can say for most movies with a budget that is a thousand times greater.

An independent film that bravely confronts the subject of consensual incest is presented as a dark comedy in which ALBERTA WATSON and JEREMY DAVIES, as mother and son, have the key roles. It's their mother/son relationship at the heart of the story that is compelling and sometimes erotic--especially the scene where Davies has to massage his mother's legs and toes while they discuss why her road travelling husband isn't there to do it for her.

When the story strays to others outside this relationship, it fails to make the same connection. The father is strictly a man so obsessed with his own career that he ignores his wife. She, in turn, is a manipulative shrew who virtually seduces her son because she's a needy woman. The son's friends are depicted as total drug-happy boors and boozers whose minds are completely idle.

At times the story becomes dark and brooding--even intense--and yet there's a surface tension broken by laughter at some of the shenanigans going on in this dysfunctional, to say the least, family.

Outstanding work by JEREMY DAVIES and ALBERTA WATSON. He's highly sympathetic in his predicament all the way through and she's totally despicable in the manner by which she exerts control over him. Both show complete understanding of their difficult roles.

Summing up: Interesting tale, character-driven and flawed, but worth watching.

The climax it where it's at in this movie; didn't see it coming the first time I watched the film. Plenty of nice shots and solid character development. Funny and at times painful to watch, but definitely makes you think. The characters are written well and are performed admirably by the cast (with an early role for Jeremy Davies).

Great movie to watch in the middle of the day, with the pacing slow relative to many movies. But it works, and it makes the payoff all the more rewarding. The interactions feel so real. This is as good as it gets for under $100,000.

It's simply another one of the Greek myths retold in a modern setting. Those Greeks really knew how to write a cunning tale that cuts close to the bone. They wrote straight from human experience and feeling. Incest crept up on the young hero of the film with terrifying inevitability. They both knew what they were getting into, and went ahead even though they knew that they would subsequently experience "decision regret". A very enjoyable film that magically captures the passion of a summer holiday gone badly wrong.

Copying a tried and tested tale from the past is always a successful recipe for a good modern film, as Lucas has shown with borrowing from Homer's "The Iliad". This film is certainly capable of provoking strong emotion from the viewer, and I think that most of us would have a hard time resisting sexual advances in those circumstances if the woman in question was such a fox.

A compelling tale, made all the more sickening for it's overt basis in human experience.

Not one to watch with your mum (unless you fancy her!).

THIS COMMENT CONTAINS SPOILERS, GIVEAWAYS AND REVELATIONS. Or something.

Okay, to my mind what holds this movie together is the chemistry between Susan (Alberta Watson) and Ray (Jeremy Davies). Almost everything else is superfluous and a great deal of the last half hour could have wound up on the cutting-room floor.

Tom, the controlling, philandering dad, could have been fleshed out more. As it is, we see a driven, conniving, dishonest man - with no idea of what made him that way, or why Susan stayed with him. There is a scene rather late in the film where he opens up, but it's wedged between about six other speed-the-plot scenes, and loses almost all its meaning. His character works best not as a real person, but as another one of the many pressures that act against Ray all summer long. You can see Ray's fear, resentment and anger build through the entire film. Jeremy Davies' performance is agile and moving.

I did not need even one appearance of Ray's stoner friends; they don't advance the plot or even give any comic relief. We're supposed to understand that Ray is only there because he's friends with Nicky (played by guitarist Matthew Puckett), but the other three jokers take up so much cinematic room that there's no way to tell what Nicky and Ray meant to each other.

Likewise, when Ray jumps off the cliff, we're supposed to understand that he's making a desperate bid for freedom, and that his old life is over (rebirth / baptism / etc). But not half an hour ago he was trying to kill his mother. Too much information.

Toni Peck is the little girl from down the lane who's had a crush on Ray without ever meeting him. She is a precocious thing who has read more about life than she's actually experienced. The early scenes with her and Ray could have had more bite - what he says to her in the pagoda is not really enough for her to go home in a snit. And if she can't take that kind of verbal treatment, how in the world does she manage to stand up to Hurricane Susan later on? I don't feel that Toni's character was really thought through (and her father should have been excised from the movie). She was not really a person, but a study in contrast. Ray is awkward, graceless and fumbling when he's with Toni, but with Susan he's the consummate lover - relaxed, confident, passionate, healing.

Jeremy Davies does not quite pull off every trick in Ray's book. Too often he is a limp dishrag - not at all vibrant or interested in interacting with the world. Makes sense for his character but is very boring to watch. He is at his best when he's with Susan - there are long loving closeups of his face as he massages his mother's feet, calves, thighs... those are some of the few times in the entire film Ray looks really involved. The phrase "smoldering lust" comes to mind.

Alberta Watson was phenomenal. Her character is the only one who really does anything. She behaves inappropriately with her son and suffers the consequences. Tom is a cipher, and Ray's biggest problem is that he is acted upon. Everything he does is a reaction. Even the climactic leap at the end.

Morphine's score is sardonic, rueful and knowing - very well suited to this movie. And the cinematography isn't stunning by any means, but the camera is so voyeuristic when Ray and Susan are in the bedroom - those extreme closeups, coupled with panning shots that don't cut away even when you're flinching and squirming and wanting to leave the room. Those are the scenes I go back to - they are erotic, but for all the wrong reasons. Even as you're drawn in, you really wish you could look away.

Kick a few plot twists (will Ray won't Ray ever get to Washington?) and extra characters (Aunt Helen) to the curb, and this movie would have been tight as a snare drum, extremely compelling cinema. As it stands, it's a darkly flawed diamond. 6.5/10.

This film tends to reject the Hollywood made-for-TV oedipus complex (which is usually only expressed in undertones) scenario of a youth beset with confusion over his seemingly unhealthy relationship with his mentally ill mother, and his need to have a uncomplicated non-incestous relationship with Miss American Apple Pie. What we're presented with is a story of an independant young man who has dedicated himself to being unfettered by his emotionally distant, overzealous parents.

When his mother suffers a badly broken leg, he is called upon to take full responsibility for her care thru her entire recuperation. Very reluctantly, he is forced to acknowledge their authority yet again. He is immediately confronted with her immasculating condensations, but is unnerved by her very uninhibited demenor when under the influence of her prescribed pain-killers.

When me and my friend saw this, we were somewhat uncomfortable with the realistic candor of the actors portraying the mother and son. I can say this film, unlike any other I've seen elicits the nervous humor response far more effectively, and truly makes this worth seeing.

It's always nice when Americans make thoughtful, atmospheric, and reflective films. Especially when they are black comedies, because America is home to some of the masters of the genre. Dealing with the most taboo of all subjects, this film makes you squirm in your seat even more than Thomas Vinterberg's 'Festen', and the subject is dealt with using the tact and subtlety that many Hollywood directors lack.

Anybody expecting a slapstick, South Park type movie will be sorely disappointed, but fans of Todd Solondz will probably love it. Plus there is a great soundtrack by Morphine.

Considering the plethora of reviews here, both good and bad, there isn't much I can say that hasn't already been said. I will add that the first half works "reasonably" well, allowing viewers to understand perhaps how such a thing as an incestuous encounter could possibly happen. But then the film derails, and derails big time. The boy blames his mother completely for what they did, and the film seems to side with him despite the fact that it had previously shown us that he was just as guilty as she in the liaison. The film gets unspeakably ugly from there. The subject of consensual incest has been addressed by film only a few times over the years, always with unsatisfactory results---perhaps this is reflective of society's uneasiness with the subject. Consensual incest is about the only "sexual more" that is never discussed (even by psychologists), even though it likely occurs in real life with more frequency than we would like to believe.

What a devilish film! I first saw this upon it's initial release, and was blown away by David O. Russell's script and direction, and the acting skills of Jeremy Davies. The film makes you cringe at every turn, but you cannot take your eyes off of it. Well acted and directed, this marked Russell as a talent to watch.

A college dude heads home for the summer to take care of his broken legged mom. In among his daily routine is letting her brace herself on him as he stands outside the shower, his would-be goofy romance with a neighbor girl, and peer pressure from the guys he hangs out with. Not to mention taking one of the most annoying dogs of movie history for walks. The capper comes when after rubbing cream on mom's legs, he's unable to sleep. Turned on perhaps? The two proceed to get drunk and tear one off (insert your "EWWW" here). He tries to put it behind him and concentrate on the neighbor girl, even though earlier she nearly accused him of rape...after accusing him of being gay and telling him to be more agressive! This girl is true schmuck/dink. Maybe the most stunning moment is the sex scene, or near sex scene, involving him, the girl, and mom toward the end. And that's mostly what the film does: stun, not really shock. Mostly it just annoys, as all of the characters are totally unlikable, the meanie mother and father, the bonehead girl, and even Davies as the lead, comes off cold or irrational sometimes. Plus the ending, which leaves everything up in the air. Ridiculous, too, is the business with the family dog, that is constantly distracting Davies from the doing the title deed, as it wimpers outside the bathroom door. Sheesh, man, lock the damn dog in a room! That's what I do. Uh, I mean, that's what I WOULD do, WOULD do, not what I do do. Ahem. Anyway, this one's good to gather a group of friends around for some uncomfortable laughs. Or for the most awkward experience, I'd use the classic line from the Video Hound movie review book: "See it with a relative".

As i was flipping through the channels, i thought this would seem like an interesting film to watch. Well, I was very much impressed. It is one of those few films that can make me laugh and yet notice honest pain that people experience. Its a little hard to get through the fact that the son has sex with his mother, (who wouldn't feel sick?), but the film is so much deeper and interesting than superficial(and wrong) sex. Its witty and forward in its approach to comedy and the frustrations of the characters is intrigueing, and somewhat poignant. You can't help but feel deeply concerned and sorry for Ray when he tries to kill himself, but yet laugh at this feeble attempts. Until of course, he finally runs away and leaves behind the psychological, and what i believe to be the physical abuse. I know he's somewhat of an adult, but a mother should know her limits. i highly recommend it!

This Indie film pushes the envelope with its odious subject matter; mother-son incest. Now, I don't mind when a film tackles a difficult topic, but this movie appears to embrace its subject matter not because it has a story to tell or a point to make, but only to be out there on the edge.

It's intuitively obvious that the relationship between the mother and her son has to be a product of a very dysfunctional family, and the subject family is a case of middle-class dysfunction en extremis. So much so, the characters are rendered unbelievable. The director and screenwriter push way too hard to make the movie ‘edgy', and end up with a mess.

This film is not shockingly funny as the VHS box says. In fact, it is shockingly bad.

(spoilers) First, there is not one scene which was funny. I did not find the dog sniffing the toilet door funny. I did not find the guys laughing at Ray funny. I did not find having sex with your own mum (yes, incest) funny.

Second, this film has a bad story. There is no climax, everything is just a bore. 50% of the film happened in the bedroom, so that's another reason of it being boring.

Third, The ending is even more pathetic. The film suddenly ends with two failed suicidal attempts. It's OK to fail, but it is not OK to end without addressing all the other issues raised in the film. Just before the suicide Ray told dad what happened and dad was mad. Then Ray tried to kill his mum. It would only be reasonable to expect that the film would take us back to these issues and deal with them. Either they make up, or they break up etc.

This film is a total waste of time. I don't know why the rating is so high.

This film pulls no punches. It has the balls to show difficult subject matter, yet it can make you laugh. Most people will recognize Jeremy Davies from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (the scared guy), but here he is worthy of an Academy award. However, don't be under the impression that this film is for everyone, it definitely is not! The incest is likely to offend those who are not familiar with the genre. But if you're in the mood for taboo-breaking themes, this is your movie.

I really don't like the marketing of this movie. The tagline and the doesn't really tell you what's going on. 'Flirting With Disaster' was a comedy, and this is a drama. A tragedy more accurately. The movie has its laughs, but it's the anything but humorous incestuous events, that are the the core of this story. I think David O. Russell is a very gifted filmmaker and here he presents a very unreal subject in a very believable and compelling way. But if you are looking for a comedy, see "Flirting With Disaster.'

David O. Russell, who wrote and directed the suicidally-titled "Spanking the Monkey", has no conviction in what he's doing. He uses provocative situations as springboards for nasty little jokes; and when his picture begins to disintegrate near the finish, he cops a scene right out of "Five Easy Pieces" as a lazy out. College student is called home by his demonstrative father after mom has fallen and fractured her leg; although not happy about possibly missing out on a prestigious internship, the lad dutifully tends to his mother despite mounting sexual confusions, frustrations, and humiliations. Jeremy Davies is reasonably well-cast in the lead, although he doesn't resemble or behave like the actors (Benjamin Hendrickson and Alberta Watson) portraying his parents. It's almost as if Davies has been adopted by these people--which would certainly put a different twist on what transpires. Either way, the narrative focus is a mess, with one excruciating moment after another--and each of them followed by an unfunny visual or 'sardonic' verbal sucker punch. The audaciousness of Russell's conception palls once the viewer realizes this thinly-derived plot isn't about to go anyplace. * from ****

Yeah, I'd say see it once so you know what people are talking about. But no more than once is required to realize it's not very good. My big problem was that it wasn't believable. I didn't believe for one second that the mom was his mom. Also, any mom that drinks with her son, probably wouldn't make such a big deal about being seen naked in the shower. Nothing gets resolved at the end, either. The mom and son could've at least gotten together and retaliated against the dad. It's better than Flirting With Disaster, but if you want to see a really good movie check out Three Kings. I can't believe it's made by the same guy.

This is not a very easy subject matter to tackle. I started watching the movie on television. I kept thinking where is this thing going? My husband went to bed earlier. Next morning his first question, "did they do it?" Yeah, they did.. The topic of incest tends to make me ill, but I was just wondering to what point a parent can push a child. I do not think that the kid was out of control, but that the mother was. The whole family was out of control. A good example of a dysfunctional family. Never was positive enforcement given to that child in the entire movie. The parents expected too much from him and kept on hitting his spirit. The kid was smart enough to get an internship in Washington, D.C., but the father made him stay with the mother. She ends up seducing him. This is so sick! I cannot begin to tell how sick it is to me. When I was in Law School, we had a class called Juvenile Law, where the Professor brought in the victim and the perpetrator of the crime of incest. They sat down and told us, the students, how it happened. Both sides stated how addicting it had become. I was raised in a "Father Knows Best " type of home and the entire discussion stuck to me. Needless to say it really shocked us all! It has been years since I took that class and I can still see the face of the older man who told about committing incest with his daughter. The only solution to the problem was to have them part company forever. Interestingly in the movie the boy leaves because he appeared to know that the situation would continue. He did the right thing!

I appreciate the guts of producers and director for dealing with such an unpleasant topic because it happens and it happens a lot, unfortunately. Otherwise there would not be legislation for it. The movie won Independent Spirit Award 1995; and the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for 1994. This was the first movie I saw that deals with the topic in such a graphic fashion.

Saw it on HBO2. I don't have anything to say except it's an awful movie. Don't rent it. Whoever is responsible for creating this trash should be banned from future movies. The movie is basically trying to get people to speculate on incest. It has nothing to do with the title, and I'm pretty sure most people don't think the way the characters do in this movie. Overall a very bad attempt to get the general public to accept the movie makers fetish. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone, not even my enemies. It's filthy and disgusting and leaves you with a sick feeling when the movie is over. Please excuse me, I think I have to vomit.

The video jacket claimed that this movie was in the tradition of "The Graduate" and picks up where "Sex, Lies, and Videotape " leave off, and the IMDd voters gave this movie a 7.5 rating. It sounds pretty good (tacky title aside), but the movie lacks believability and sincerity. The problems that college student home for the summer encounters are worse than any Shakesperean tragedy, and even the teenagers with the worst lives can't identify. The film does give a tremendous sense of awkwardness, which mirrors the lives of teenagers well. This movie is depressing and gives no hint at hope.

A good friend recommended this to me a year ago because it would be interesting to a psychoanalyst. She was very right! Finally viewing it, I was amazed as one funny, outlandish thing happened after another, and yet you were glued because the events, however warped, were true to life. These things happen! The kid should have gone off to Washington DC for a highly prized internship in medical research, on his way to a career in medicine, doing his undergraduate studies in prestigious MIT. But his philandering, controlling father derails him by guilt-tripping him. He is to take care of his mother, instead, who is laid up at home with a cast on her leg. No one else to do it. Somebody has to do it. Time to pay back a little something--- yeah, like his life! The mother is love-starved and seductive, and draws her son in. His growing attachment to his mother prevents him from behaving appropriately with a neighbor girl who is interested in MIT, but also some summer fun. Things go from bad to worse. Try to imagine a teenager carrying his mother to the toilet and helping her take a shower. Try to imagine his urges to masturbate in the john interrupted by a dog whining at the door. His girlfriend accuses him of having a problem, maybe being gay, because he is overly restrained. She says to relax and he almost rapes her. She goes crying to her father, a psychoanalyst! He comes complaining about the boy. The psychoanalyst ends up trying to console the mother. The boy and girl try to make it, but it's no go. More and more the mother and son are together... in intimate connections. What follows has to be tragedy, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Writer/director David O. Russell gives us a disturbing look at a dysfunctional family. Turn your head, Granny. Incest, masturbation, sexual impropriety and a family failing in communication, honor and respect. A promising pre-med student(Jeremy Davies) returns home from his freshman year at MIT to tend to his bedridden, mentally unstable mother(Alberta Watson)while dear old dad(Benjamin Hendrickson)is engaged with extended 'business trips' that allows him to practice adultery. Davies is caught up in a wad of sexual confusion. The family dog keeps interrupting the young man's attempts at self gratification. A young neighborhood girl(Carla Gallo)accuses him of rape after some heavy petting. Mom is attractive and needs some attention. The dutiful son ends up drinking with his mom and next comes the horizontal bop. This totally drives a stake into his secret fixation on his domineering mother. This dark comedy flirting with taboo subjects is disturbing as much as it is interesting. Now time to go spank the......

I've seen some pretty distressing movies lately but this one is the worst. I've seen teens in jail, raped and murdered but what happens here is even worse. In this movie the cruelty inflicted on this kid is coming from his parents. The people that he should be able to trust the most are damaged people in their own right and are toxic to their son.

In the beginning we see a promising young man who has a lot going for him but by the end of the movie it seems that killing himself or running away from home without any clothes or money would be an improvement.

Almost everyone is familiar with MILF. We just saw it recently in Superbad when Seth was drooling all over Evan's mom. "I am truly jealous you got to suck on those tits when you were a baby." But, having the hots for your best friend's mom is not the same as having the hots for your own mom.

Ray (Jeremy Davies) is planning on a quick visit on his way to a choice internship after his first years of college. Dear old dad (Benjamin Hendrickson) screws him so he can get back on the road and he ends up taking care of his mom (Alberta Watson), who has a cast on her leg. That means being a support while she takes a shower, and rubbing cream on her dry feet and under the cast, and, well an alcohol fueled night leads to things that almost destroy him.

He is trying to pursue a normal relationship with his next door neighbor (Carla Gallo), who gives a great performance herself, but the mom issue has traumatized him to the point where this isn't possible.

His dealing with his problem is somewhat funny, but also very tragic until he finds a way out. There was some funny bits in the beginning before the tragedy, but the overriding theme of selfishness on the part of everyone reminds us that shite happens even when you make great plans.

Jeremy Davies gives a great performance, and Alberta Watson really is one hot mom!